The invention relates to a wind deflector for sliding roofs of motor vehicles, said deflector being mountable near the forward edge of a roof opening and pivotable about an axis extending at right angles to the lengthwise axis of the vehicle and located near its forward edge.
Wind deflectors of this type are made with relatively thick walls to achieve an aerodynamically favorable shape. For this purpose, in a known wind deflector, a sheet metal strip is coated on both sides with PVC. This method of manufacturing a wind deflector is relatively expensive, since large machines are required and the injection process must proceed relatively slowly in order to provide a uniform coating on both sides of the strip. Moreover, it has been found that when the sheet metal strip is extrusion-coated, it is necessary to paint said strip since it is not extrusion-coated at least in the vicinity of its mounting, the paint is occasionally damaged, resulting in a high rejection rate.
An object of the invention is to provide a wind deflector of the type described hereinabove which can be manufactured more cheaply.
This object is achieved according to a preferred embodiment of the invention by virtue of the fact that the wind deflector consists of a sheet metal strip and a plastic strip joined to the latter. The sheet metal strip and the plastic strip are therefore manufactured as separate parts and then joined together. This allows both the sheet metal strip and the plastic strip to be shaped in a manner which favors stability, whereby the thickness of the strips is reduced and the plastic part can be made with recesses, so that the weight of the wind deflector is reduced.
The two parts can be joined by clips, adhesives, ultrasonic welding, or shrinking. It is also possible to design the plastic strip in such manner that it can be mounted on the rear edge of the sheet metal strip. In this case, the rear edge is preferably bent upward.
Preferably, the sheet metal strip comprises two parallel sections separated by a shoulder, one section accepting the plastic strip whose thickness approximately corresponds to the height of the shoulder, so that the surfaces of the plastic strip and of the other section will essentially be flush.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention.